D O C U M E N T 1 7 8 N O V E M B E R 1 9 1 9 2 5 3
ALS. [44 253]. There are perforations for a loose-leaf binder at the left margin of the document. Writ-
ten on letterhead of “The University, Sheffield.”
[1]Robert W. Lawson (1890–1960) was Lecturer of Physics at the University of Sheffield.
[2]An honorary Assistent in the Institute of Radium Research of the Viennese Academy of Sciences
between 1913 and 1919, Lawson, an English national, was considered an enemy alien in Austria dur-
ing World War I.
[3]Stefan Meyer (1872–1949) was Titular and Acting Professor of Physics at the University of
Vienna and director of the Viennese Academy’s Institute of Radium Research; Heinrich Mache
(1876–1954) was Professor of Physics at the Technical University of Vienna; Franz Serafin Exner
(1849–1926) was Professor of Physics at the University of Vienna and director of its Second Institute
of Physics.
[4]See Report 1919.
[5]Lawson 1919. Ehrenhaft showed (Ehrenhaft 1917 and 1918) that when particles with a diameter
of a magnitude of cm are exposed to concentrated light on one side, they move both away from
the light source and toward it, depending on the type of particle (called by him “lightpositive and
lightnegative materials”). He claimed that these effects were independent of the surrounding gas (i.e.,
not a consequence of the radiometer force). He argued that in addition to the well-known positive light
pressure there must be a negative one that moves particles toward the light source. Rubinowicz 1920
explained this so-called negative photophoresis as a radiometer force that, for certain particles, acts
toward the light source. For a historical discussion of the problem, see Rohatschek 2000.
[6]Friedrich A. Paneth (1887–1958) was head of the Laboratory for Inorganic Chemistry at the
University of Hamburg.
[7]The Allied blockade of Germany, which was extended past the end of the war to pressure Ger-
many to accede to Allied demands, together with economic disruption from the war caused a famine
in Central Europe in the aftermath of the war. For a Berliner Tageblatt article of March 1919 protest-
ing the continuing Allied blockade and resulting hunger, see Wolff, Th. 1919b. In the original armistice
agreement of November 1918, the blockade, started in 1915, was continued, but the Allies assumed
responsibility for feeding Germany in case of emergency. The blockade remained formally in force
through the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles on 28 June 1919, and was not lifted until 11 July
1919. The famine in Germany led to lowered resistance to disease and caused outbreaks of tubercu-
losis, rickets, dysentery, and scurvy, as well as influenza (see Vincent 1985). On the extension of the
blockade past the armistice, relevant Allied documents, and critical press coverage, see Bane and Lutz
1942. For books already published by November 1919 about the blockade, see Reichsgesundheitsamt
1918 and Siegmund-Schultze 1919. For other works on the blockade and its impact on the German
population, see Vincent 1985 and Roerkohl 1991. On Quaker and American relief work in Germany
in the aftermath of the war, see Vol. 7, Docs. 40 and 41, as well as Jones, R. 1920; Brooks 1943, and
Holt 1943, pp. 14–22.
On the coal shortages in Germany after the war, see Doc. 87, note 5.
[8]Hans Thirring; Ludwig Flamm.
178. From Shmarya Levin[1]
77, Great Russell Street, London, W. C. 1. 27. November 1919
Sehr geehrter Herr,
Die Leitung der zionistischen Weltorganisation gestattet sich, Sie zu einer Kon-
ferenz juedischer Gelehrter einzuladen, welche vom 14.–16. Januar in Basel statt-
finden wird, um ueber den Aufbau der hebraeischen Universitaet in Palaestina zu
beraten.[2]
10–5